Wonderland
by Kimchi
Summary: Tabitha gets sucked into Wonderland, a place so backwards that sometimes death is the way to make others live...
1. Badly spaced first chapter

Wonderland -Lorelei I don't own either of the two plots, but I do have Tabitha's responses in a box under my bed. Hee.  
  
Tabitha found herself staring out the window as the teacher's drone turned into a long line of buzzing sounds. The leaves outside were so close to the window. Some were scraping across the pane. They were close, as if Tabitha could touch them, but she felt too warm to fully connect with the dream of being outside. At last the bell rang, and it was over. Weekend lay ahead. The sun outside seemed to glow brighter as Tabby ran the final stretch of hallway between herself and freedom. As she burst from the doors, boots crunching through the thick layer of dry leaves, a silver flash protruded behind a tree. Seconds later, Pietro slowed enough to be seen as he rounded the corner of the school. The huge crowd of other students began to push through the double doors, and Tabitha had to jostle her way over to the open space near the corner. She ran the rest of the way, hoping to catch up. He hadn't stopped to flirt, so something was up. She wanted in on the secret. Tabitha was practically skipping as she rounded the corner, so when her eyes met Pietro standing next to a tree, it was no wonder she suddenly tripped. Problem was, there wasn't a tree root on the pathway she was traveling, and the fall to the ground shouldn't have induced unconsciousness. When she finally did wake up, the fall leaves on the ground were gone. Instead there was fresh green grass, and pleasant-looking apple trees surrounding a dirt path not far from where she was sitting. Tabitha made to get up, but her shoe caught on her skirt and she tripped again. There was a pause in her movement; as Tabitha was suddenly contemplating the fact she had been wearing jeans before. When she finally got up, it was fully recognized that she was wearing a blue, short dress and long white stockings with black shoes. These clothes were certainly not here before. Something cream-colored caught her eye. Running along the path was Pietro in a white tuxedo with shirttails flapping in the wind. Hoping for information on where the hell this was, Tabitha was soon running after him. "Hey! Speedy! Where are-Hey!" He wasn't paying attention to her screams, only to the path ahead of him. Tabitha stooped to scoop some rocks off the ground and continued her pursuit, this time chucking gravel at him. "Speedy! Pietro! Where are we? Hey!" One of the rocks found home, and the tuxedo-clad one dove headfirst into the ground. Tabitha managed to catch up as soon as he recovered. Pietro sprung up, his face bloodied by gravel. "The Queen! Holy crap, I have to see the Queen!" He dashed off again, paying no mind to his dirtied tux. "Hey! Answer me, you.you." Tabitha tried to think of a witty retort. "You. dirty rabbit!" She was silent. "Where the hell did that come from? ." Never before had Tabitha ever said something so intensely stupid. "That was so weak. I should catch up." She trailed off again. She was talking to herself. She had followed a shiny object into a different place. This was Alice in wonderland, big time. This triggered another question. "Why can't I remember anything from Alice in wonderland?!" Tabby screeched to herself.  
  
In time, Tabitha decided to follow the pathway, exploring her new habit of talking to herself, reviewing what she knew about the ancient book. "Stupid me.lessee.hole, rabbit.what happened next? I wish I had a clue!" Still more startlement lay ahead when she realized her grammar had improved immensely. "What's going on." "You're gonna transform into Alice." "Really? Thank you- hello?" This weird voice seemed to reverberate from all around. She cast her eyes to the bases of the surrounding trees. "Up here." Tabby glanced into the nearest tree, a wisteria. Amid the blossoms, a dark shape was perched. "Toad?" "Yo." This was different from the Toad she knew. Although still hunched over, he appeared taller and was dressed entirely in black leathers. His grammar was better, too. "Toad, what is this place?" "Wonderland." "Oh.well, how did I get here?" "I'll bet the queen transported you here." "Where is the queen? Can she send me back?" "Yeah. She's in the garden." "Where is that?" "You'll find it. Here." Toad reached into a pocket on the trench coat he was wearing and pulled out a book. He tossed it in the air, and it floated down to Tabitha, hovering at eye level. She reached up and plucked it. It was leather bound and had no title. Although heavy, it was pretty thin. Flipping to the first page, Tabitha found it was a copy of Alice in wonderland. Still flipping, hoping to find out what would happen next, she found that all the pages past falling down a hole were empty. "Hey! Toad, this is mostly empty." "I know. You have to fill them yourself." "But I never read the book." "That's okay. It'll come. By the way," Toad stretched out lazily on a branch. "Not many humans have left this place alive." Toad glanced down at his feet. They instantly began to fade out. The rest of his legs began to follow, and then the rest of his body. "I have to guide them. Sort of like a beginning mentor. Think of this as a game. I just teach you the rules. Like an RPG, everything is useful. Oh, and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty." Then his head was gone, and his voice died out. Tabitha walked up to the tree. "So toad is the Cheshire Cat." 


	2. What was I smoking when I wrote this?

Wonderland Chapter 2 Man, not owning stuff sucks. I don't own the characters in this. I suck. I am so sorry about the spacing in the last chapter, and I'm sure that everyone hates me by now because of that, but I'll try harder on this one.  
  
"What did he mean, 'everything is important'." Tabitha's hand beat a tattoo in the wisteria bark. Sighing, she turned to leave, but smacked her head on a low hanging branch.  
  
"Ow." Tabby rubbed her head. "Why me? Stupid flowers." Even as she spoke, Tabitha was gathering some twigs of wisteria, building a bouquet. "Stupid, pretty, sweet-smelling flowers.I hate them."  
  
Then she continued on the path, arms full with pretty blossoms. Eventually she came upon a large hole. The light seemed to diminish around it, so despite the cheery sunlight, it's entirety seethed absolute black.  
  
Temporarily putting the bouquet down, Tabitha pulled the leather-bound copy of Alice in Wonderland from a pocket in her dress. Flipping through some pages, she found the page about falling.  
  
She read a little bit, contemplating what to do. The hole was about the width of the path, and on the opposite side of it the woods closed in.  
  
Tabitha smiled. "This is just a dream, so." She leaped in.  
  
In the original Alice in Wonderland, the fall down the rabbit hole was lengthy and slow. In this twisted version, however, Tabitha eventually woke up with a sore back on a stone floor.  
  
Looking up, there was only a circular spot of light to show where on earth she came from, and it was too small to even consider going back up. Looking about, she was in a circular, stone-built room, with a circular stone table in the center. There was a vase on the table, and when Tabitha looked closer, it had a pattern of swords encrypted around the neck.  
  
The bouquet made a crunching noise when tabby inspected the vase, so she became suddenly aware of it. Putting two and two together, Tabitha carefully stuffed the un-flowered ends of the wisteria branches in to the vase. She continued to inspect the room, forgetting the flowers. Tabitha noticed a tiny blue door in the deep black stones. Leaning over to see it better, she was alerted to the table by a sudden flash of light.  
  
The wisteria had begun to glow, and the vase's encryptions were shining a bright light. Tabitha came closer, and it became even brighter. Working up her courage, Tabitha reached out to the glistening wisteria and the light became blinding. Tabby shielded her eyes, and reached out. Her hand met metal. The light faded away.  
  
The metal object formed from the odd transformation was a sword. Wisteria patterns swirled around the hilt and even on its sheath and blade. Unknowing of what to do, Tabitha took a while to figure out that the sword was probably important and she should take it.  
  
Awkwardly holding it, Tabitha went back to the tiny door, and tried to open it, hoping to at least see what was behind it. When her finger touched the knob, a squiggle escaped the keyhole. Tabitha jumped back, grasping the sword. It was like a moving shadow, or an extremely hyperactive black slug. It ricocheted around on the floor for a bit, then settled to a steady squiggle, like a snake. Tabby crouched next to it, and, grasping the sword in one hand, poked it.  
  
The little slug retaliated to this assault by rearing up, growing to about eight times it's usual size, and growing fangs. All in all, it still was about as tall as Tabitha's waist, if lower. It lunged. According to the location of its fangs, and assuming that fangs are always placed in the mouth, and the mouth in the head, then the flat edge of Tabitha's sheathed blade smacked it right in the nose, cramping it neck into a bizarre position. This didn't seem to phase it too much, as most invertebrates don't care too much about neck injuries.  
  
The sheath of Tabitha's blade clattered to the floor. The bare blade shook with Tabby's nervousness as she faced the living shadow. It lunged again. This time she tried turning the blade at an angle and swinging it slightly. The slug sliced like butter. It squirmed, headless, for a bit, spewing some type of blood, and then fell in a heap on the floor.  
  
Shaking from the weight of what she just did, Tabby murmured a small "Eep!" when the creature vanished.  
  
"This really is just like a game." The spot where the creature had died now occupied a large marble.  
  
"You're kidding me." She picked the marble up. "Is this supposed to be gold or money or something?" Tabby slipped it into a pocket on her dress, then turned to the door again. It was still small.  
  
" I was hoping it would evolve or something." More talking to herself followed, and then she tried poking the door with her sword. Then the stone around the door, until finally, she became frustrated and tried to hack at the stone. After the first signs of anger coursed through her mind, the patterns on the blade of the sword began to glow, and when the blade struck the smooth wall, a wave of searing energy split through the brick and carved a large, cavernous doorway. There was a long following of crumbling and crushed rocks clearing away, and before long, bright sunlight illuminated Tabitha's confused face.  
  
"This is too weird." Tabitha frisked the sheath for a bit, until she found what she was looking for: a strap.  
  
With the oddly powered sword slung over her back, Tabby worked her way over and around the fallen rubble to the outside world.  
  
"In games like this, usually the heroine has to learn spells and beat the bad guy. And there's always a cute hero." Tabby smiled to herself. "This may get a lot better." 


	3. There's plot in this chapter! I swear!

Wonderland #3 -Kimchi I don't own the stuff with the stuff and the guy with the writing and the- oy vey!  
  
This time it was a small, stout maple tree that Toad materialized in. He appeared stretched out upon one of the branches, long leather trench coat trailing and drooping over the sides. He was looking taller now, and his face was more human than it had been before.  
  
Tabitha called his name, and began to run to his sleeping point. He greeted her by opening one eye, grunting, and closing it.  
  
"So, I see you got the sword of Alice," he murmured. " It's a sword only those with the power to beat the queen can touch." Tabitha stared.  
  
"Really? This is so like a video game! I-wait, I have to beat the queen? What do you mean by beat?"  
  
Toad sighed and pulled himself into a sitting position. "You'll figure it out. Anyway, I'll bet the reason you're here is because the queen wants you to save this place."  
  
"Save it?" Tabitha gripped the sheath of her sword nervously. "Are you making this up?"  
  
"Nope. You see the minds of everyone here are at risk. Lately, the people in the far reaches of the Kingdom have been reporting more cases of insanity among normal people. Entire villages of gibbering idiots."  
  
"A while back, there was talk of the queen using her powers to find someone from the other worlds to help us. I don't see why the person has to be from Mars or wherever, but you're here."  
  
Tabby was silent for a bit. Her eyes were solidly fixed on the ground. "So. how come you're taller?"  
  
Toad's skeptical look peered down from the branches. "Are you afraid of this place?" A smile crept across his face. "You're gonna be here a while. Get used to it."  
  
"I- I feel alone." Her voice cracked with tears. "I don't like being alone." her hands gripped the sword sheath extremely tightly, and it rattled as she shook. "I'm so.weak."  
  
A rather pronounced sigh came from above, and Toad leaned farther over the edge of his branch. "You hate being alone, don't you? To some people, being alone is a weakness. To others, it's salvation. Most humans don't realize that one must be distinguished from others and yet still consume time with other humans."  
  
Tabitha sniffed and wiped her eye. "That's really deep. I never thought Toad would say stuff like that."  
  
Toad flopped back down into a napping position. "Yeah, well in Wonderland, people may be the opposite than they were in your world."  
  
"Anyway, The normally-dormant monsters around the queen's estate have been infected by the madness. That's why you have the sword, but you need backup. Hope you like odd company." Toad pointed down a gravel path, which appeared out of nowhere. They'll be having a tea party, like they always do on Wednesdays. I swear, I'd say the madness got them if they weren't like this before." He trailed off as his leather boots faded out. His body followed, and Tabitha wiped away the last of her tears as she walked down the path.  
  
There was a clearing at the end of the path, and in it was a little house. In the front yard, however, there was a long table set for about twenty people. Seated were two.  
  
Tabitha heard the company before she saw them, as one was laughing her head off, barely breathing between tyrannical hoots. The other sat placidly, sipping tea.  
  
Tabby walked up to the calm one, and was about to ask if she could sit, when the other stopped giggling long enough to energetically shout: "Oh, a guest!"  
  
She raised her hand and the chair nearest to Tabitha shot out. Tabby took a seat, trying to figure where she had seen this girl before. The female, however, had gone right back to giggling her ass off.  
  
"She's like this for days at a time, you know." The male sitting next to Tabitha made his presence known. "And no one, not even me, can figure out what she's laughing about." Something clicked inside Tabitha.  
  
"Lance?"  
  
He turned from his tea. "I think that's my name. A lot of people call me the Mad Hatter, though. I don't know why." He was wearing a green top hat and matching suit. The shirt and tie, however, were of black color, and the dark sleeves reached to cover his fingertips. On the top hat were embroidered some weird symbols, slightly representative to hearts.  
  
" I really don't sell hats, I just wear this one a lot. And I'm not crazy." Lance returned to his tea. "Oh, um.do you remember me? I'm Tabitha." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.  
  
"You look like an Alice." He was amazingly calm, given the personality of the real world Lance.  
  
"What do you mean? I'm not Alice."  
  
"Well, look at your long hair, your blue school girl dress."  
  
"Umm, I don't have long hair." Tabitha reached behind her head to reaffirm this. Somehow, blonde locks fell to the middle of her back. "Impossible."  
  
"Hey! Twins!" The laughter-obsessed girl stood up, her face a huge smile.  
  
"See?" Her dress was the exact same as Tabitha's, but a deep crimson in color. Her stockings were black, and on her head she wore a ridiculous bunny-ear headband.  
  
"Yay! Twins!" She turned a few circles and sat down, giggling childishly.  
  
"Now, She's crazy," Lance commented. "Her name's Wanda, but everyone calls her the Mad Scarlet Hare, because of the way she dresses, and because of that headband."  
  
"Uh-huh." Tabitha was somehow made nervous by this Lance, probably his lack of emotion. "Um," She began. "Toad said I'm supposed to come here and get 'backup'."  
  
Lance sighed. "Toad? One of the queen's messengers? He means us."  
  
"You?"  
  
"Yeah. I don't look it, but I'm one of the most credible fighters 'round here. Oh, and she's a highly trained sorceress. I'm guessing you're here to help the queen? We can do it."  
  
"Uh-huh." Tabitha was a little un-nerved. A crazy Wanda and a crazy Lance? And she had to save some kind of Kingdom?  
  
About an hour later they set off upon another magically appearing trail, with Wanda in the lead, skipping like a little girl and singing about yogurt. Lance walked a little bit ahead of Tabitha, and was profusely silent. Tabby had tried many times to start a conversation or at least learn what was in the canvas backpack he was wearing. All was to no prevail, as he only answered with one word, never asked questions, and claimed he only carried "supplies". "Moo.Moo! The cows in the yogurt are nice to me."  
  
"Um," Tabby began "Do you know anything about this queen?"  
  
"Barely. They say she has the most powerful spells in the whole kingdom."  
  
".Monkeys in the hay bales and so am I."  
  
"Uh-huh." Just talking was tiring. How long had she been here, anyway? It was getting dark.  
  
"We should make camp here." Lance seemed to read her mind.  
  
A simple tent and a fire were erected before long, and Lance sat, making stew in a large pot that somehow fit into his small backpack. Tabitha sat on the other side of the fire, away from his stare, reading the leather volume of Alice in Wonderland.  
  
Only the pages up to the rabbit hole were filled in before, but now, all the fiascoes up to meeting the Mad Hatter were portrayed.  
  
"But I never met a duchess or anything." Tabitha contemplated her position. "This can't be real."  
  
"You shouldn't doubt things here." Tabby jumped at his voice. How could he hear her talking to herself?  
  
"Anything happens in wonderland. Most of the surrounding environment is influenced by the psyche of the one in it." Lance still stared intently at the bubbling stew, not looking at Tabitha.  
  
"Wh-what do you mean."  
  
"You're afraid of me, no?" He glanced up.  
  
"Um.er.yes." her voice was barely audible at the last part. He smirked, the first emotion to cross his face since she met him.  
  
"Look at the fire." Tabitha nervously stole a glance at the flames. The fire was sputtering, and reducing in size rapidly. Tabitha felt Lance still staring at her, and almost felt herself sweating. The flames sputtered more.  
  
"Oh." There was movement across the fire. In a flash, Lance was sitting beside her.  
  
"How did you." She couldn't finish. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight. Breathing in his smell, she felt her face go hot. He let go, and steered her face to the fire. It was a blazing mass, reaching high.  
  
"O-oh, I see." he grinned, and walked over to his stew, as if nothing happened.  
  
The next morning was uneventful, other than the hordes of gigantic bunnies that loomed over the campsite. Lance informed Tabitha that they were a clan of malformed rabbits that made their livings selling shoes.  
  
"Why shoes? None of them are wearing any." They were walking along a trail, Wanda skipping in the lead, singing about candy this time. The rabbits were a couple meters behind, slowly but surely following.  
  
"They don't sell any, so they really live off stealing." He whispered back.  
  
"Will they attack us?"  
  
"Probably." he said. "I guess they think we're monster slayers. Don't ask me how, but monster souls crystallize and are sold for quite a bit."  
  
Tabitha fished through the pockets of her dress. She found the marble and held it up.  
  
"You mean this?" Lance's face showed a strange mix of "what the hell" and "oh, crap". He grabbed the stone and tried to hide it.  
  
"You idiot! Now they think we're rich!" He hissed at her. "How did you get this anyway?"  
  
"I killed a squiggle-thingie."  
  
"A what? Never mind! We were probably gonna fight 'em one way or another." The rabbits had huddled together and seemed to be discussing something.  
  
"Are they gonna attack?" Wanda had skipped over to the pair and peering over Tabitha's shoulder at the rabbits.  
  
"Ooh, bunnies! They're so cute! Do I have to attack one?"  
  
"Only if they attack first. And whisper, they can hear us." Lance hissed at her.  
  
"But they're so cute!" She exclaimed, even louder than before. One of the Rabbits in the front row lunged at the trio, teeth bared. Lance pushed Tabitha down, as was about to do the same to Wanda, when she held her hands up, closed her eyes, and muttered something. A white burst of energy lunged out of her from all sides, knocking the rabbit back at his companions, and throwing Lance to the ground.  
  
Lance grabbed Tabitha's collar and hoisted her up. He dragged a giggling Wanda in his wake while pulling Tabitha by her sleeve.  
  
"Candy.wondrous candy.beautiful as the sun during an eclipse."  
  
"Shut up!" Lance and Wanda verbally battled the singing issue while Tabitha glanced behind her. The entire horde had joined on the chase.  
  
"They're closing in!" She gasped, quite out of breath.  
  
"Damn!" Lance discarded Tabby and Wanda into the grass once more, and changed direction, charging towards the gang.  
  
"What's he doing? Is he crazy?"  
  
"I dunno. But he is the Mad Hatter. This is how he got his nickname." Wanda grinned. "It looks like suicide at first, but then.POW!"  
  
"We should help him." Tabitha got up and pulled the Sword of Alice from its sheath. "Let's go." Wanda nodded. They started running after him.  
  
"This is one kooky dream." 


	4. Useless middle chapter Nothing happens, ...

Wonderland4  
  
-do de doo. I don't own the stuff, so y'know.  
  
Wow! Actual reviews! I feel so.accomplished! No, not really. Actually, my stomach hurts.  
  
Wanda ran faster than Tabitha, and Tabby was shaking from nervousness, so she watched Lance leap into the air, his long black sleeves flapping. He cleared a gigantic rabbit, dug his heels in, and swiveled around, his fist showing as he plunged it into the rabbit's back. He was gripping several long knives. The rabbit screeched as its blood poured out. Lance moved on to the next one.  
  
"Wow." Tabitha muttered to herself as she continued to speculate, still running. She heard Wanda yell something in a cheerful voice, and suddenly the ground beneath her was rocking. Suddenly, green vines burst from beneath the crust, entwining around the nearest rabbit, completely covering it. Several others fell victim to the thorny ropes, and Wanda ran farther into the thick of battle, where Lance was working his eerie ninja tricks.  
  
Tabitha was taken aback by their skills, and how she couldn't do much. She was distracted watching Lance's dance of knives and doom, when a white shape loomed above her. One of the rabbits escaped Wanda's enchantment, and was after her. Tabitha lifted the sword of Alice over her head, and willed the glow-thing to happen. Nothing did. The rabbit's paw came dangerously close to her head, and jumped backwards.  
  
The sword won't work, tabby thought. I need to use my powers. Concentrate. Nothing was happening. She couldn't even use her mutant powers. This was bad. The rabbit's paw kept making swipes, and she kept trying to dodge it. She was struck a couple times, and when the rabbit lunged with his teeth bared, she was lucky to trip over a rock, stumble backwards, and nearly miss the evil-looking buck teeth.  
  
Tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't take it. This was the worst dream ever. Jumping to her feet, she gripped the sword and glared at the rabbit.  
  
"I won't let a dream kill me." The patterns started to glow. She raised the sword above her head, and brought it down, hard and fast. A wave of energy swept from the blade, and the rabbit was swept in two. Fueled by her hatred and anger, she ran to Lance. He was closest to the next rabbit, The next victim.  
  
It had been a few hours since the attack, and many rabbits were still lying dead on the field. The trio walked ahead. Wanda was singing a little less energetically than usual. Lance seemed the same. Tabitha tried to think of what had happened to her out there.  
  
"I felt like a different me." She murmured to herself. "Like there was someone else in me that I can't control." She felt awful, nauseous. "I killed an actual being, a living thing."  
  
"So did I, so did Wanda. So what?" Tabitha jumped when she realized Lance had been listening.  
  
"I don't know where you're from, but death is a lot more.mainstream here. People die, and there is grieving, but people aren't completely broken about it. Everybody dies."  
  
"I-I know," Tabitha was nervous. Her stomach kept rolling. "I just.don't like hurting things that much." She gulped audibly, putting a hand to her mouth, as if she were to vomit. Tabby fell to her knees.  
  
"I just don't want to hurt anyone." The world went black. Her cheeks burned. What was wrong? She had been fine earlier.  
  
Tabitha woke now and again, allowing strange real-world happenings to intrude upon her dreams. Lance was carrying her.he said something about fever.serious.  
  
There was darkness. Someone was asking for Tabitha, why she wasn't here yet. They were crying now. Tabby was in the darkness. She found the person, a woman. She couldn't see the woman's face, she was just sure of the outline. She stopped sobbing and grabbed Tabitha's hand.  
  
"You will stop it." Tabitha still couldn't make out a face. "The madness that was once stopped will be stopped again.with the same sacrifice." Her grip on Tabitha's hand was tightened, extremely. Her other hand went to her grip, as if giving Tabitha an Indian burn.  
  
"Ow." Tabitha tried to pry the woman off, but it just got more painful.  
  
"L-lemme go." One of Tabitha's hands strayed to the woman's wrist. Tabby groaned in agony, and pushed at the woman's face.  
  
"Hey." Lance said. Tabitha opened her eyes. Lance was holding her wrist, and pushing her palm away from his face with his other hand. Tabitha sat up.  
  
"Oh.um.what?" She was in a neatly made bed, in some kind of infirmary with brick walls. There were two chairs next to the bed, and Lance's pack and her sword was balanced against them.  
  
"You were yelling in your sleep. Wanda went to get water." He sat back down.  
  
"Where are we?" Tabitha could see a long hallway past the solitary door.  
  
"When you collapsed, we weren't far from this town. We just brought you to the infirmary."  
  
"Oh.I see." She glanced about nervously. "What was wrong with me? I feel fine now."  
  
Lance's face didn't change. "Remember when I said how you feel affects your surroundings? You said you were guilty about killing those rabbits, so you must have been punishing yourself. That guilt took the form of a fever."  
  
"Oh." Tabitha wondered if Lance abandoned his emotions just so he could not have things like this happen. That seemed a large sacrifice.  
  
"Um.thank you for." Tabitha felt embarrassed, as if she had shown too much weakness. "Just.thanks."  
  
Tabitha almost thought she saw Lance smile out of the corner of her eye when Wanda burst through the doorway, holding a pottery bowl full of water and a washcloth.  
  
"Guess what, guess what, guess what!" She cried, dropping the bowl onto a nightstand and jumping onto the foot of the bed. She grinned from ear to ear.  
  
"They're having a full-blown marketplace here!" Wanda was brimming over with sugar high energy.  
  
"Who gave you candy?" Lance was slightly fearful. "Last time you had candy, it took me three days to get all the moose fur off the walls." Wanda started giggling.  
  
"I'm fine, by the way." Tabitha stated.  
  
"Yayyyyyy!! Tabby's back!" Wanda hugged the other girl. She went back to grinning maniacally. "Lets go, lets go, lets go! I wanna go to a market!"  
  
Lance sighed and nodded.  
  
"I feel fine." Tabitha wanted to know what a marketplace was. " What's a marketplace.?"  
  
They left the quaint building and onto a crowded street. There were street performers everywhere, most in robes and dancing.  
  
"A marketplace is a festival." Lance explained as they pushed their way through the crowds. "They occur when various traveling vendors happen upon the same city and set up shop. They tend to attract more visitors.and this happens. You could buy anything you wanted here.if you looked in the right place." Wanda had disappeared among the masses. The crowd had seemingly concentrated around where Lance and Tabitha were standing, causing Lance to suddenly have to toy with the boundary of social behavior.  
  
Tabitha tried to push some strangers out of the way, pretending to be very interested in one of the street performers. The pushing continued.  
  
"Sorry." Lance muttered. He pushed the guy in back away, and they continued. When they reached a less populated area, Tabitha realized her cheeks where hot. They kept walking, occasionally glancing at vendors' items. Tabitha asked Lance if there was some relic that could send her home, since stuff like that happened in fairy tales and such. He said no, but there where jewelry that could enhance or grant one power. She gave up.  
  
Apparently the queen was the only one allowed to bring or expel one from Wonderland. Tabitha checked her book, but there was nothing about a marketplace in Alice in Wonderland. Lance smiled slightly.  
  
"A lot more happens in that book than what's written, or so we're told." he disappeared in between two fat men. Wanting answers, Tabitha squirmed through after him. When she caught up, he just looked at her like always. She sighed.  
  
"Don't worry. In Wonderland, a lot of things don't matter. I guess Alice was the only one that made a difference. Now, you're going to be another Alice."  
  
She didn't protest. "I guess I have to learn a lesson or two before I go back; like in the original book."  
  
Lance smirked.  
  
"Let's go. I can get you a bargain deal on some poison gas. I'm a pretty good negotiator."  
  
Tabitha nodded. They walked back in. 


	5. garg, writing Pietro lines is hard

Chapter 5.is it? I don't know any more.by what's-her-name.Kimchi, yeah  
  
-Yeah, I don't own the stuff with the stuff and the writing and the characters.yeah.  
  
The trio left the busy streets a few hours later, Wanda sporting a horned Viking hat (with her rabbit ear headband over it) and Lance sorting and resorting different types of poison capsules. Tabitha had cashed in her marble-thingie for a pair of hair decorations and a traveling priest had sold her a sutra for exercising demons. Lance said it was authentic, and he was kind of a jack-of-all-trades, so she trusted him. It was cheap, anyway. The priest looked like he was ready just to give it away. In fact, half way through his explanation of how to use it, he ducked behind a fat guy when a young man with dog-ears and long white hair walked by. (Get it? Please laugh.)  
  
Tabitha had just finished putting her newly long hair into buns and wrapping the beaded fabric around them when a silver flash blew past them, circled around, and stood to face them. Pietro seemed intent on stopping them.  
  
"Sorry, stooges, but I have to stop you. Queen's orders." He smirked. "If you want to beat the queen, you'll have to go through me."  
  
Lance glared at him. "I remember you. You're the one who thought the queen had bad views on keeping the sickness away. Her little lap dog."  
  
Tabitha was thoroughly confused. What was up with this queen? How did these two know each other? "Um." she started "I don't understand."  
  
Wanda, who appeared to have been sleeping with her eyes open, suddenly dashed out in front of Lance and hugged Pietro.  
  
"Yay! Big brother! You were gone! I thought you went to serve the queen forever! I talked with Lance and now we're gonna go see the queen!" She changed to a lesser tone "So, do you really work for the queen because you love her? Huh? Huh? I heard that from Lance. Do you? Huh?"  
  
Pietro pushed her away, pretending to be disgusted. How sad, Tabitha thought. He keeps everyone away so he can try for a love he might not get. I mean, this is a queen.  
  
Anyhoo, Lance and Pietro exchanged insults for a while, and it became apparent that they both were trained at the same martial arts academy (Pietro, Lance says, sucks at fighting) and became bitter rivals. Too bad the author has become insanely lazy at this point. Tabitha tried to intervene, hoping to get some information on this queen, but she had to contend with a sobbing Wanda (she was faking it, obviously hoping to make the rabbit fell bad.)  
  
Lance and Pietro had begun to fight, both armed with throwing knives. Pietro stayed in one spot, trying to target Lance, who was running around and ducking behind trees. Tabitha stood up.  
  
"I've had it with this place." She drew her sword. "I'm so sick of this not making sense, not having anything to do with the book, and everyone thinking I can fix it!" her blade gleamed and Pietro barely skipped out of the way before the crescent of light swept by him. He tripped, and then Lance had him at knifepoint.  
  
"Now," Lance started; "I'm gonna be top of the class."  
  
"No!" Tabitha came forward, pushing Lance out of the way. "I want to know about this queen."  
  
"She's.she's afraid. Ever since she heard about the tell-tale signs of the madness, she's shut herself in the castle and confined the doorway to the castle to.the garden of the dead." He finished with an ominous tone.  
  
"What's that?" Tabitha's tone was hard. She was a different person.  
  
"The place where dead people go. Only some insane person would go there. The dead souls want to live again, and the only way to do that is to steal a soul of someone living. They temp you with your heart's desire, then take you to hell with them. It's suicide to try to go there without the Queen's help."  
  
Tabitha's stare was unmoving. "We will go there."  
  
Lance didn't move. He seemed to believe her. Wanda stopped crying. Pietro got up, dusting himself off. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.  
  
"You're crazy! I said suicide!"  
  
Tabitha look at him. "You have to come with us. You're the queen's messenger, so she'll let you in." Sword still drawn, she advanced. "Lance, get some rope."  
  
It took Tabitha a while to regain her normal behavior. She was a little groggy on what happened, but there was something in the back of her head telling her to go to the queen at all costs.  
  
Pietro was tied up, and Lance led him while Wanda pestered him with questions. Lance had gone back to not showing emotions. Tabitha felt somehow saddened by this, as if she had looked forward to him smiling again. Eventually, after asking, then pleading, then interrogating using catnip and moose hair-ing Pietro, they got directions to the "Garden of the dead". Tabitha wasn't sure what the point of the last one was, but it worked. It didn't take long before they were standing in front of a large gray gate. A tall fence stretched off into the horizon, and behind the metal bars there was fog. The weather seemed to be contained by the gate.  
  
Tabitha's heart was pounding. The voice in her head was strong, telling her to go in. She didn't want to, but it was taking over. The presence clouding her head was screaming, telling her to stop the madness. The spreading madness.  
  
"Are you okay?" Tabitha woke up. She was grasping her head, and kneeling down. Lance stood behind her, emotionless face unmoving.  
  
"I'm.fine. Just fine." The voice had retreated, and she could see again. She stood up and began to try the gate for weaknesses.  
  
"She's got the madness, I tells ya! She'll be screaming and crazy in no time!" Pietro began to struggle, yelling nonsense. "The sickness is highly contagious! Get away!"  
  
"Shut up." Lance thumped him on the back, and Pietro settled down. There was something wrong with his eyes. He was deathly silent.  
  
Tabitha noted the silence, and turned. There was a black shape looming over Pietro. It was human, and in the shape of a woman. She was transparent, like smoke, and her ghoul hands were stuck in his back. He stood with his mouth open, a gawky smile on his face. She took her hands out and he slumped to the ground.  
  
"The sickness is highly contagious." His eyes closed. The shape turned to Wanda.  
  
"The sickness is." Tabitha's voice failed. Suddenly, the world had no sound. She could only see Wanda fighting it off, using some spell. She could only see Lance turn to her and step forward, if only to be blown back.  
  
What she did hear was the creaking of a gate as it opened while the voice in her head took over and made her step backwards. Step, step, step into the dark fog while a silent Lance pounding at the gate fades away into nothing.  
  
".alive." 


	6. I'm falling asleep help me!

Wonderland  
  
-Kimchi. Has it been saying "Lorelei" this whole time? That's my.other name.  
  
-Yeah, Don't own the stuff and all that.man, but if I did! Kill Jean! And to death with awful slapstick humor! Um, this is the last chapter that I bothered to write before uploading this, so It'll be a while before anything else comes up.  
  
The fog tickled Tabitha's bare arms, but she did nothing to warm them as she walked on.  
  
Keep going, don't think.You don't have to think about anything.  
  
Tabitha, the real Tabitha, wasn't sure what was wrong with her. She was here, feeling the cold, feeling the knots in her stomach, but at the same time, she wasn't. It was all a game. Life is all a game. Nothing matters, nothing at all. There are emotions, but they are merely synapses within one's psyche. Not real, nothing is real.  
  
Don't think about it; don't think about anything at all.  
  
The voice in her head was taking over, telling her all this. Telling her to give in. She may as well, after the only things that seemed real were now probably food for that shadow. That shadow that is a living sickness.  
  
Tabitha stopped moving. She was back in control. Unused to the sudden lack of puppeteer, she fell over. Shocked by her own movements, she got back up. Pain coursed through her skull. The voice was still there, clouding her mind; hurting her head, and making her see white. Why would it let her move?  
  
They're there. Deal with them.  
  
The voice turned her head to the figures standing to her left. Dark shapes and demons; evil things with snakes for eyes and venom squirting out of their pores. To Tabitha, they were beautiful.  
  
She ran to them. They would kill her, and everything would be okay. She had said that she wouldn't let a dream kill her, but to eat her words and commit suicide now would be delicious. There would be no queen, no "wonderland." Only the great beyond or whatever.  
  
Fool! The voice lashed out at her, and she fell to the ground. Not now! Don't you want to go home?  
  
Tabitha choked, but her thoughts reached the voice. Then don't die! Save this place!  
  
"How." Tabitha's throat closed up on her. The demons had left, they were only an illusion. Everything was swirling, swirling, fading. The fog on Tabitha's mind was lifting, and she was on hard floor again. It was checkerboard, and stretched on forever. There was a platform ahead of her, but Tabitha lay grasping her head, trying to cope with the weird lifting feeling.  
  
"You whom I have called here." A voice was coming from the platform. There was a veil hanging from the ceiling, restricting the image of the speaker to a wavy silhouette.  
  
"You whom I have asked a great favor.I ask now of you to complete that deed." Tabitha managed to stand up. A delicate hand lifted the veil, and a woman in a long white dress stepped out. It was Tabitha.  
  
The queen's alter ego is I, thought Tabitha. There was definitely something wrong with the queen. Her skin was light blue and sickly. Her face had an awful sad look to it.  
  
"I am sorry that I had to manipulate your mind to get you here, but it is of great importance that you.kill me." The queen's eyes seemed to melt inside, as if saying this hurt her so very deeply.  
  
Tabitha stuttered for words. Kill herself? Why would this save Wonderland?  
  
"You see..." the queen continued, "This sickness that is contaminating so many.needs a human body to keep a worldly form. It chose me. If I die, then the deaths will stop."  
  
"Do." Tabitha murmured, "Do.but.why?" This was too much.  
  
"That is what the Sword of Alice is for. The original Alice did more that play with the queen. Those beheadings were random, like how insanity strikes. It is common for the royal bloodline to be affected by this, but every so many generations it manifests as a sickness among others. When this happens, an Alice is summoned. Alice are humans that are born to, but not connected to other worlds. They can easily be removed from the other places and brought here, and if they are fit to be warriors, they kill the offending royalty."  
  
Tabitha was suddenly very conscious of the weight of the sword slung over her back. This was handed down to those clever enough to find it, and then used to kill innocents.  
  
"Enough talk, please." The queen closed her eyes. A look of acceptance crossed her face, as if she knew this would happen all along. "Kill me, and save this place."  
  
Tabitha unsheathed her blade. "You expect me to kill you, right here, and save my dream world?" her hands shook. "I can't kill you."  
  
The queen smiled. "Poor young girl. You want to save the ones you love, no? Your friends, your family."  
  
"They aren't in Wonderland."  
  
"But they are. Please, no more refrain." The queen raised her arm. Tabitha's hand moved by its self, raising the sword above her head.  
  
"Wait! Wait, I don't want to kill you!" Tabitha strained her mind, trying to stop this. Her hand went down, and Tabby squeezed her eyes shut. There was a sickening thud.  
  
"Tabitha!"  
  
Tabitha opened her eyes. There was the queen's body. There was no head. The head was beside her. Out of the wounds, there was flowing blood, but most of all, bugs. Cockroaches, centipedes, and other insects squirmed, flowed, and skittered out of the neck and head. Tabitha thought she would be sick. She leaned over, and blinked. She fell over and lay there. Someone was calling her name.someone.  
  
"Hey! Wake up!" Tabitha opened her eyes. She was on a leaf-covered ground, and there was the rest of the Brotherhood, standing over her.  
  
"Yo! She's up!" Toad said, grinning at his obvious statement.  
  
"Jeez." Lance leaned over farther. "You've been out for almost ten minutes. We were gonna get the nurse or something."  
  
Tabitha sat up. "No, I'm okay. It's okay." It's all over, she thought. That wasn't real at all. Just a dream.  
  
She stood up, but something half-stuck into her pocket fell out. It was a leather bound edition of Alice in Wonderland.  
  
Tabitha passed out. 


	7. I'm really, really hungry!

Woooot! Someone wanted a sequel!! Well, my computer was beset by some sort of illness, and all the original chapters were erased! Oh, happy day. Anyway, here goes for whatnot. In the last couple chapters, there was this thing with the spacing where "dot dot dot" would appear as "dot." So if you see "dot" where "dot dot dot" should be, blame my computer. Strange, huh?  
  
Don't owwwn the stufff!  
  
Was it a dream? A practical joke? It was a hazy mess clouding Tabby's mind. Killing rabbits and herself and herself again all clouded her mind.  
  
Deeeeeeaaathhhhhh..was necessary? For what?  
  
Knocking at the door. Wake up, wake up, sweetie. Time for breakfast and then for a peachy day at school, then to come home to apple pie and cinnamon; living the American dream. Peachy day...at school.  
  
"Tabitha."  
  
Tabitha's stomach was as bad as her head. Whining for food, yet screaming with agony if anything was placed in it.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
Whose voice was that? Why was..  
  
"Just go in already, yo."  
  
Yo. She was in the real world. Is that a good thing? Maybe you should speak.  
"Toad.? Blob.?" Oh, it's not worth it. Crawl up and die, already.  
  
"'ey, 'ey! She's okay!"  
  
Tabitha stumbled out of bed. How long had it been? A day or two, at least. She was wearing her pajamas; they were crumpled from staying in bed too long. Walking to the door, she picked up the leather-bound copy of Alice in Wonderland. Maybe it could take her back.  
  
"Eat, dammit."  
  
Tabitha stared at her cornflakes. If they were eaten, where would they go? If Tabitha were to be eaten, where would she go?  
  
"I said, eat." Lance's eye twitched. "If you don't, I'll shove it down your throat..." He went on with other charming lies while Tabitha sat, staring at her cornflakes and wondering what it feels like to be eaten.  
  
"Are you listening to me? While I am in charge of the Brotherhood, I will not have anyone die from anything other than following orders from me, understood?"  
  
Pietro sprung up from that last remark and the two started arguing over leadership. It occurred to Tabitha that their fights had always seemed that someone trying to make it appropriate for children had written them, like a cartoon show.  
  
"Look." Toad uncoiled himself from his hunched-over position. "Just eat it, a'ight?"  
  
(Author's note: "a'ight" is a very, very bad abbreviation and you will be made fun of for using it. I'm a professional, so don't worry.)  
  
Tabitha looked down again. Food, sustenance, nutrients. All excuses to prolong existence. Was that really worth it?  
  
"I can't." she said softly. "I don't want to keep living."  
  
Everyone seemed kind of taken aback by this. Tabitha kept looking down. "Well, you are." Lance put his fist on the table and leaned on it, glaring at Tabitha. "There's no reason for you to die."  
  
"There is. I killed someone." She let her hair fall over her face.  
  
"I'm sure you really hurt someone by falling over and hitting your head. I think you imagined this."  
  
A really tall fire. Wanda singing. Lance..closer..  
  
"I did."  
  
Sitting by the edge of a bed. Hair hiding his face.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Another me."  
  
Stuck in a crowd. Really close now.  
  
"Realllly.." He seemed unconvinced.  
  
"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to die." Lance sighed.  
  
"Well, do you have anything you want to live for? Anyone?" Lance was making too much sense for this too be remotely in character.  
  
Tabitha was silent. Soup in a pot. Green fabric of a suit. Hearts on a hat. Really warm. Closer..  
  
Tabitha reached for the spoon next to her.  
  
"Thank you for breakfast." She said. Toad relaxed. Lance looked satisfied. Closer... 


End file.
